[Rockhounds] Trip Report - Denver Area

[Axel Emmermann]

Thanks for the report, Kreigh!

Have you looked at the asphalt and surrounding host rock under UV?
There's a possibility of fluorescing "earth-waxes" being there ;-)))
Yeah, I know... I have a one-track mind...

Cheers
Axel

> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com 
> [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] Namens Kreigh 
> Tomaszewski
> Verzonden: zaterdag 16 augustus 2008 5:27
> Aan: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem 
> collectors
> Onderwerp: [Rockhounds] Trip Report - Denver Area
> 
> My oldest daughter, Norma, moved to Denver last August for a 
> job, along with her husband, Brian. My wife, Monica, and our 
> youngest daughter, Grace, went with me to visit them in a 
> quick trip this past week.
> 
> We left Grand Rapids, MI, late last Friday morning and drove 
> to Lincoln, Nebraska, before finding a place to sleep. We 
> arrived in Denver Saturday evening. Sunday was family time to 
> catch up, go to Church, and watch some Olympics.
> 
> Monday we visited the Colorado School of Mines Museum in 
> Golden, toured the Celestial Seasonings plant (they have a 
> prairie dog preserve on their grounds), visited the Coor's 
> Brewery, and went to Lookout Mountain to visit Buffalo Bill's 
> gravesite and enjoy the views. I highly recommend the Mining 
> Museum, and their gift shop; I took a lot of pictures of 
> outstanding specimens.
> 
> We also stopped at Red Rocks on the way back and saw an 
> outstanding rainbow (I hope the pictures turn out). On the 
> way back we also stopped at a great roadcut and collected 
> millions of years of sand/silt stones covering most of the 
> colors in the rainbow. I'm looking forward to learning more 
> about the geology behind my specimens.
> 
> Tuesday was the high point of my collecting trip. We drove to 
> Pete Modreski's house and loaded collecting tools into our 
> van. I was very pleased that Jane (a fellow Michigander) 
> decided to come along. Pete and I had been conspiring for 
> months about this trip. It was a true pleasure to finally 
> shake hands with an old friend.
> 
> Our first stop was a roadcut occurance of Sillimanite and Fuchsite. 
> Jane talked about the fun stuff on the other side of the road.
> 
> We continued on to Harris Park where Pete's Club had a claim. 
> I've had better days, but good specimens of amazonite and 
> smokey quartz were collected. I am used to 500 feet, and 
> collecting at 9,000 feet was hard work.
> 
> Supper at a Coney Island, serving elk and buffalo dogs, was a 
> real treat. The restaurant really was a giant hot dog in shape!
> 
> On the way back we stopped at the other side of the road cut 
> Jane had identified. Cool Moly minerals, natural asphalt, 
> sulphates, and a normal fault from an old earthquake.
> 
> While trying to get a good photo of the fault Dr. John 
> Palermo (I hope I got his name right) stopped to make sure we 
> were not having problems. 
> He invited us to visit his property after finding out what we 
> were doing.
> 
> Dr. John had a limestone quarry, and lime kiln, that 
> supported the original Coors brewery in making glass bottles 
> (by providing the lime for soda-lime glass). Pete and I had a 
> chance to collect at a rare location, and document an unusual 
> historical site (I sure hope my pictures come out). Dr. 
> John's family was connected to some very well known oil wells.
> 
> The locality also supported an interesting artesian well, and 
> an old NASA tracking station (reused by a local TV station). 
> Dr. John was the next door neighbor to Adolph Coors. His 
> children have taken over his veterinary practice; I wish John 
> was my neighbor.
> 
> My thanks to Monica and Jane as Pete and I explored, and took 
> pictures, and collected specimens. It was a very long day! 
> I'm glad we took the long way back (thanks for showing me 
> dinosaur tracks).
> 
> Wednesday we hiked Falcon Mountain before starting the long 
> drive back to Michigan.
> 
> It is going to take me many weeks to identify and catalog all 
> the specimens I collected (thanks again Pete!).
> 
> Kreigh
> 
> 
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